The Soul Instilled
by Solien
Summary: Ranma SI, a much different take than normal. Give it a chance before you kill it. Please?
1. Spells and Spirits

Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, any other things I toss into the mix also belong to their respective owners.  
  
THE SOUL INSTILLED  
  
A wisp of incense wafts through the air on a cold night. Deep chanting can be heard emenating from a small hut.  
  
An aged woman sits in front of a babe, lying in the center of a pentagram with a circle circumscribed about it.  
  
"May the spirits watch over this child, protect him........I humbly ask of you that you guard him in his weakness.........spirit........inside this child, bond with one of your number....."  
  
The diagram on the ground glowed brightly, runic symbols coming alight and intricate lines flowing with power.....  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A young man named Jing Shen sits idly in front of a computer, typing up an essay whilst grumbling.  
  
"stupid professor.....had to give out this assignment just before graduation, didn't he?"  
  
Clicking on the almighty 'save' button, the college student retires to bed for the night.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Swirls of energy began to spin around the child, eventually covering the child, wreathing him with power.  
The chanting continued, yet more energy being focused through the pentagram.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
As the last light goes off in the dormitory, the young man closes his eyes, only to be beseiged by swirls of color twisting and turning around him.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO MEEEEEEeeeeeeee........."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The woman slumped as the glow ended in a bright burst.  
  
"It is over......now to get the child back into the village without anyone noticing."  
  
She quickly extinguished the final remnants of the fire and erased the ritual's pentagram no need for anyone noticing.  
  
Cloaking her aura, she silently replaced the baby in it's crib by the side of his mother. A presence besides the sorceress caused her to stir.  
  
In hushed tones, she spoke.  
  
"Elder Kuh Lon!"  
  
The shrunken matriarch sighed.  
  
"I know that the boy was weak at birth......but did it really require that kind of a binding?"  
  
"I don't think that Mu Tsu could have lived past the first few years without it. His body is undeniably weaker than the standard due to the plague leaving a few long lasting effects, even after it died itself. The ritual will strengthen both mind and body, as well as the soul."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
When Jing Sheng regained consciousness, he was looking through the eyes of a child. A woman was holding him up in his arms and talking in chinese to her child.  
  
"Good morning, Mu Tsu, my son...."  
  
"WHAT?! I'm MOUSSE!?!"  
  
He tried lifting an arm.  
  
"but I have no control......how lovely...."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
How's that for a prologue? An odd idea got stuck in my head while I had writer's block on Angel Story.  
-Azrael Maestus 


	2. Expelled, from the only world I've ever ...

Nearly all characters depicted within belong to their respective owners.  
Ante Scriptum: Mousse's vision ability is based on mine, at close range things are clear to slightly blurry and at longer range it gets progressively more blurry. He's not nearly blind like in the cannon, but he can't read a sign from ten feet without glasses.  
  
  
The Soul Instilled, Chapter 2  
  
The old sorceress died in a year or two, leaving Cologne as the sole carrier of the knowledge about Mousse's binding. The information, however, was just one item compared to the copious amounts of knowledge stored away in her mind. In time, it was swept away in the flow.  
  
The baby Mousse grew up learning the hidden weapons style, but nothing else. He was a male, so logically he wouldn't be strong enough to handle anything else. But they were completely unaware of the spirit's very nature.  
  
The type of binding that the sorceress desired was designed to mesh completely the spirit and soul to create a strong, composite being. The one that was cast, however, was flawed.......  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Young Mousse could be considered a prodigy, a child with great mental promise (thanks to the binding), and good physical ability. Early in life, his eyesight degraded, not too much to the point that he may once have, but he was still wearing glasses by the age of six. He was teased by all the other kids in the village, and once in a while, childhood bullies beat him up for no real reason at all.  
  
Even as he learned Hidden Weapons, becoming proficient in it and later on, mastering it, it did nothing to help him against the bullies since an accurate position was required to aim the weapons, and murder in the Amazon Tribe was a crime that demanded vengence.  
  
Jing Shen would not allow this. His charge (as he saw it) would have to learn how to defend himself. He himself was fairly skilled at martial arts, being proficient in a few styles here and there, as well as the staff and the chinese broadsword. Jing also picked up some of the forms and moves that some of the women practiced. Mousse was innocent, and didn't take any note of them, while Jing could remember them clearly.  
  
Jing's influence over Mousse, at this point, was limited to planting ideas, images and thoughts in Mousse's head. He began to drip katas into Mousse's brain, how to do them correctly and how to use them effectively. Gradually Mousse picked up on these things and began to practice regularly, at dusk and dawn, because it was looked down on for men to practice the martial arts and the first few times he was caught, he was beaten.   
  
Still, his skill increased to a credible level by age ten. Now, he could hold his own against most anyone that tried to assault him in the village. This brings us to a very important event six weeks into the winter, recently after Mousse's tenth birthday.  
  
The bullies were after him again. Mousse knew that he could beat them if they were by themselves, but they had banded together. Four of them versus one Mousse. They chased and he fled.  
  
They cornered him at one of the perimiter fences.  
  
Mousse held them off as best as he could, ducking here, striking there, but he could not escape the four girls (amazon village, remember) and they overwhelmed him, knocking him out cold.  
  
Above them, catching this at the last moment was Cologne, watching from her second floor window. She sighed softly. She knew beyond a doubt that the boy was unconscious. The boy would have to become better, so that he could withstand the assault. Or maybe he should just learn how not to piss the girls off....  
  
Almost dismissing the scene, she noticed, at the end, that the body was stirring as the girls began to leave.  
  
Pulling up to a crouch, the battered body spoke, no, hissed in a cold voice not its own.  
"you would dare to injure this charge of mine, when he has done you no wrong....."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"It was a veritable slaughter, the greater power of the possessed boy easily crushing the four girls. When all four fell of the girls fell, the glow in its eye faded, and the body collapsed. Mousse was put on trial immediately thereafter, claiming to not even know what was going on. He was charged with consorting with demons, as no male should have been able to single-handedly defeat four of the best fighters in his age group. He was exiled from the tribe for a period of one year, and its status to be deliberated upon next year, should he return."  
  
- Excerpt from Elder Kuh Lon's diary  
  
_______________________________________________  
All that wait and all you get is this? Hardly fair, I think, but that's the way school works. When school is almost out, they start piling down with the large projects, I'm not talking about just finals here, I mean big, half of your grade things ASIDE from final tests. It just sucks doesn't it? Anyway, hope the next part is longer than this.  
-Azrael Maestus 


	3. Damn! Are they giving those magic artif...

Disclaimer: If a work that is not absent from this piece that has not been written by someone other than I, has no sembelance of not resembeling something that wouldn't assemble to anything not good, then it probably does not belong to someone not included with those other non-untalented people.   
  
Yeah, try figuring that one out :)  
  
  
The Soul Instilled: Chapter 3  
  
Mousse broke camp in a clearing in the forest, muttering to himself.  
"what the hell happened.......the last thing i remember was getting beaten by those girls......."  
  
Shaking his head, he cleared his mind. It was time to move on to other things.  
  
Drawing forth several items from his robes he inspected them:  
  
1) An oddly decorated pair of gloves, jet black in color, elbow length and having fingers that covered only the first digit. The back of the gloves had many golden plates attatched to it and a perfect diamond, shallow cut, embedded at the base of each backfist.  
  
2) A similarly decorated pair of black leggings were also pulled out.  
  
3) An odd metal/crystal shield, created to resemble some symetric crystal formation. There were two straps on the back of it, making it look more like it was to be strapped on as armor, rather than being strapped onto an arm.  
  
4) A glistening white robe, similar to a kimono. If one looked carefully, one could make out intricate tracings in the robe, ever changing and fluid.  
  
5) A white, women's ribbon. Simple, but elegant.  
  
6) A shirt and pants set, both black and decorated in the same fashion as the robe, in black.  
  
Mousse had found these items a few days past, locked in an old chest from an abandoned cave that looked to have been someone's home at some point in the past.  
  
Taking them back into his robe, Mousse resumed training in the martial arts, unarmed, armed and hidden weapons, supervised from within by Jing.  
  
  
~A few weeks later in a remote region of China: Ranma~  
  
"NO! POPS! STOP, PLEASE! NOT AGAIN!"  
  
Ranma's cries went unheeded by Genma, who proceeded to toss an entwined Ranma into an odd pit.  
  
Slamming the lid shut, Genma smiled to himself. Surely that foolish boy would learn the Neko-ken THIS time....  
  
In the pit, Ranma looked, in what little light he had, at glowing yellow eyes, all staring at him.  
  
T'was only a moment before the feast began.  
  
Embedded in the wall of the pit, something strained to free itself once more.  
  
It fell to the ground with a muted thud, but loud enough to attract the attention of the felines.  
  
The air hummed briefly with energy as a jewel sparkled brightly, just before the entire room became white.......  
  
When Ranma came too, the lid was still down, but in the center of the pit lay a large metallic shield, gilt and decorated with exquisite jewels. When he touched the shield, it flared for a moment, and then dissappeared. Suddenly Ranma felt a searing power wash over him, engulfing and surrounding his soul. Emblazoned now beneath his bangs was a picture of a crystalline shield, a miniaturized replica of the large shield. Ranma, exhausted, then collapsed to the ground heedless of the figure that now adorned his forehead.  
  
  
~Ukyou on the road: A few days after Ranma's discovery~  
  
Ukyou silently brooded over her situation. When she found Ranma, honor demanded that she either marry him or slay him. Her heart sinking, she still continued on the road to the next location on her list.  
  
"YAAH!"  
  
Ukyou stumbled and caught herself before she could fall completely. Looking behind her, to see what could have tripped her, all she could see was a shiny object half covered in the dirt.  
  
"what the hell?"  
  
Scraping off the dirt from the object, she could soon identify a hilt of a sword.  
  
A few minutes later, Ukyou had unearthed the whole of the weapon, a katana. Within moments of cleaning it off, it flashed brightly, blinding Ukyou.  
  
Unbeknownst to her, a depictation of the sword she had just found appeared on her upper right arm. The sword itself had vanished in Ukyou's hands.....  
  
  
~Amazon Village~  
  
"Today marks the second month following Mu Tsu's sentence of exile. All is well in the village as we enter spring. An interesting note, recently we have recovered a number of magical artifacts, ranging from weapons to armor to various other trinkets. Given to me by the council are two items, an enchanted necklace and a rune sword. It is my will that one day my Shampoo will inheirit them."  
  
-The diary of Elder Kuh Lon  
  
  
~A week or two later: Mu Tsu~  
  
Mu Tsu reluctantly pulled out his last set of clothes, as all the others had been destroyed through gradual wear, the one he was currently wearing threadbare as well.  
  
"Great....all I have left are those weird clothes from that cave.....well, there's nothing else I guess."  
  
Mu Tsu donned the shirt and pants first, followed by the greaves and the gloves, and finally he put on the robe and tied the sash. Almost as an afterthought, he tied his hair down with the ribbon. The shield, Mu Tsu stored wherever he stored all his weapons.  
  
He felt a small tingle, like a tiny discharge of energy, but ignored it.  
  
Later, after he broke camp and went to sleep, he awoke in a misty area.  
  
Beside him, a few feet away was a young man of about 19 or 20 who was rubbing his head. In front of them hovered a large, floating jewel that was composed of many separate gemstones.  
  
Noticing that both of them were awake, it spoke with an odd voice, but was undoubtedly female.  
  
"You who have found these vestments, destiny calls to. Your fate, your future is at hand here. The flow of time will branch and fork infinitely, how will you make your path? You will learn, but as to what, is the choice of yours alone. Two souls, one body, but only one may leave."  
  
Jing twitched a little.  
  
Mu Tsu looked, bewildered, over to Jing Shen, who lowered his head.  
  
"Who are you and what are you doing here!?"  
  
"I was the one who got you exiled from the village, I was the one who taught you those kata, I-"  
  
The female voice spoke once more,  
"Indeed he did, you have assimilated each other far more than I would have expected......it seems you may have another option....."  
  
Mu Tsu ignored the large floating jewel, instead charging at Jing, whipping out a spear and stabbing madly.  
  
Jing dodged wildly, eventually having to start parrying some swings.  
  
"Look, Mu Ts-"  
  
"YOU got me thrown out of the Tribe! My HOME, the only home I've ever KNOWN!"  
  
Evading another swipe, Jing snarled,  
"All right, fine! You wanna fight?"  
  
On the next stab, Jing grabbed the spear, yanking it out of Mu Tsu's hands.  
  
"I am SICK of this pathetic whining!"  
  
Closing his fist, the spear suddenly disperesed into particles of energy that flew off.  
  
Neither expecting this, they both leapt back a few feet.  
  
"The first discovery of your hidden vestiges has been made. Those items that you acquired have awakened your potential. That use of the power has joined it. That ability overstepped the bounds of either one of you." The Jewel pulsed once, "It is unavoidable now, you will become one, in body, mind and soul......You have made your decision......."  
  
Looking around, they could see the place beginning to come apart at the seams, disintigrating and fraying. Hell, even THEY were disintigrating.  
  
Mu Tsu settled on panicked, "AHHHHH! WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!?!"  
  
Jing turned to rivet on the jewel, memories washing over him in a wave, speaking in a low whisper, "I swear.....I know that voice....Mei Hua?"  
  
In another second, their reality ceased to exist.....  
  
  
~Ranma: Age 12~  
  
"OH HOW DISGRACEFUL! That you, my boy, a man among men, refuses to undergo this training!"  
  
"Hey Pops, I don't see you leaping down the cliff to 'toughen your body'!"  
  
Genma continued, ignoring his wayward son, "OH THE SHAME! You act like such a GIRL! No, worse than one! Where's your courage?! I wish that a girl could show you how UNMANLY you are! I bet that she could even do a BETTER job than you!"  
  
Inside Genma's gi, a trinket pulsed with energy, a trinket uh....borrowed from a nearby temple.  
  
The sky began to darken as the object gathered power.  
  
"Wish.......Granted!"  
  
Genma was stupefied at the object that had floated out of his gi. Expelling its gathered energy, the object exploded. Both of the martial artists were knocked down and out cold by the blast. Said energy coiled around and into Ranma, infusing him in accord to Genma's wish.  
  
Ranma awoke to a dreamscape. He sat on a grassy knoll in his standard wear. Across from him lay a woman, about 20 or 21, also regaining consciousness.  
  
Ranma spoke first,  
"Who are you, and what have you done with my Pops!?"  
  
"Yo, calm down already......whoever did whatever to us gave me some things to say about this. You're Ranma, right?"  
  
Without waiting for an answer, the woman pulls out a sheet of paper and unfolds it to read.  
  
"Greetings, Ranma Saotome. From your father's wish we have decided to install this additional soul in your body. Think of this as living with paper walls with someone with really good hearing. The soul selected has been chosen via the requirements set by your father. The set requirements are:  
Masculine  
  
This has been open to interpretation and we have decided to take it as meaning attracted to females."  
  
There was no signature on the paper, just the neatly typed letter.  
  
*Klunk!*  
  
"Ranma?"  
  
Said pigtailed martial artist was passed out on the grass.  
  
____________________________________________________________  
Not as complete as I'd like it to be, but the next part should really be out by now. Part four, summer starts soon, hopefully I can get some solid time in on writing it.  
-Azrael Maestus 


	4. The Magic Awakens......

Disclaimer: Characters that do not belong to me belong to their respective owners.  
  
The Soul Instilled - Chapter 4  
------------------------------  
  
"I have a GIRL'S soul inside of me?! How can that BE?! I don't wanna be no weakling!"  
  
Ranma recieved a stinging slap to his cheek.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
The girl hmphed, "How rude!"  
  
Sighing, the girl continued, "Well, because of this wish or whatever, i'm going to be with you for all or most of the rest of your life. I'm Kyoko Omiwara."  
  
Still semi-paranoid, Ranma mumbled to himself, "no....never gonna like guys, never....."  
  
Kyoko snorted in disgust, "Oh, quit your worrying, didn't I already explain this with the letter? I'm a lesbian, I like women."  
  
  
~Back to reality~  
  
Genma was frantic. What had happened to his boy, and why wouldn't he just wake up?!  
  
He growled in frustration, "Dammit, boy! What the hell am I gonna tell Tendo if you don't wake......."  
  
  
~Mu Tsu~  
  
Mu Tsu awoke in the clearing alone and disoriented.  
He grumbled a bit, "what happened......my head feels like Xian Pu whacked me with her bonborri......"  
  
A voice came from within his mind, Jing, "This happened......we're stuck together now."  
  
A third made itself known, "Well, now that we're done with the introduction, can we move on to my abilities?"  
  
Mu Tsu and Jing panicked in unison, "AH! IT SPOKE!"  
  
'It' scoffed, "Of course I did, this set of magically woven items is an entity. It's been so long since I've last been used, and unless she managed to pass on her knowledge directly, which I doubt, you'll likely need an introduction to my powers......"  
  
  
~Ranma~  
  
"uhnnn......"  
  
"Boy! You're ALIVE!"  
  
Ranma was still relatively weak from the shock, "yeah, pop, can ya keep it down? I feel like hell........"  
  
Heedless of this plea, Genma continued, "This is great, GREAT! Now I can go to Tendo anytime and get you to marry his daughter, and start my glorious retirement!"  
  
Ranma whacked Genma over the head with the nearest object he could find: a small, dead tree branch.  
  
"just shut up already......."  
  
"Insolent boy! Hmph. Come on, we best be continuing on our journey. Our next destination is China, a land of vast martial arts secrets......"  
  
  
  
~Ukyo: Nightfall~  
  
Said female(currently attired as a male) was winding her way through the rapidly darkening streets of Ranma's last sighting, and getting worried, she had left her combat spatula back at the hotel.  
  
A rough voice from her back caused her to turn suddenly, "Well, well.....those look like some fine clothes you have......and that means you have cash.......care to hand it out before we have to beat it out?"  
  
A group of three hoodlums were to her back and openly brandishing knives. Ukyo knew some unarmed self defense, but knew that the odds weren't in her favor against three opponenets.  
  
She ran. They followed. Turning the corner, she found herself backed into an alley.  
  
"Kuso!"  
  
The three thugs quickly contained her within the alley's confines.  
"Now why don't you just hand over your wallet before we have to hurt you."  
  
Ukyo hesitated. She didn't know what to do. Unarmed and alone, she was worried.  
  
"Not gonna hand it over will ya? Then I guess that we'll just have to take it from you!"  
  
The lead thug lunged at her, closely followed by the other two.   
  
"Dammit, I have to get away from them, I can't dodge three people forever," she thought internally.  
  
After being forced back further into the alley, the thugs closed in.  
  
"Heh, now we got ya."  
  
Ukyo felt a short burst of energy flow down her arm.  
  
A radiant burst blinded all in the alley.  
  
When the brightness faded, the thugs were on the ground having suffered several slashes and were now unconscious.  
  
Ukyo quickly fled the scene, back to her hotel room. Later, she found the sword tattoo imprinted on her arm to be glowing warmly.  
  
  
~Jing~  
  
".....and those are my abilities and that is my story."  
  
The figure of Mu Tsu was lying against a nearby tree while the personalities talked amongst themselves.  
  
Mu Tsu was rather quiet, waiting for the next thing to be said.  
  
Jing spoke, "Interesting......anyway, we have another thing to consider. Do we or do we not return to the Chinese Amazons?"  
  
Mu Tsu hesitated a moment, before answering, "I say we don't.....you know how they treat us guys...Mei Hua can supply us with knowledge and stuff, so we won't have problems in that department."  
  
At the mention of Mei Hua, Jing re-entered the conversation, "That reminds me.....how did I recognize your voice when we were dreaming?"  
  
It vaguely felt like she smirked, "Destiny calls to you.....precognition happenes every so often."  
  
"Sooo.....now where do we go?"  
  
"Japan, Mu Tsu, I think I know a little of what destiny has in store for us....."  
  
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Not bad, not bad at all.....This chapter turned out  
pretty good, I think.  
-Azrael Maestus 


End file.
